In her quest to fulfill her life’s dream, Kieran was plagued by it.
Officers escorted Tanya Lee Hampton to Kieran’s office exactly on time. Kieran introduced herself and welcomed the woman, ready to let her talk, but also ready to ask questions that might uncover any underlying truth Tanya was unwilling to reveal.
Things didn’t start off well.
Tanya was dark haired, young and pretty—and voluptuous. She eyed Kieran curiously as she sat down. “You’re her!” she said.
“Her?”
“The ‘Subway Savior.’”
“Yes, I’m afraid so,” Kieran said ruefully. “Are you uncomfortable speaking with me?”
“Hell, no—it’s exciting.” Tanya’s eyes widened. “Did you leap right down onto the tracks? Could you hear the train coming? Did you, like, throw her over your shoulder or something?”
“I gave her my hand, just like any decent person would have done.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Tanya said, sighing and sinking back into her chair. “I guess a decent person wouldn’t have hacked off her husband’s tallywhacker, huh?”
“Why did you do it, Tanya?”
Kieran was surprised when the woman’s demeanor changed. She’d been almost nonchalant, even rebellious, at first. Suddenly something was different.
“Tanya?” she asked softly.
Tanya just shook her head. “I couldn’t take it anymore.”
“Take what? My report says that he was seeing other women. Do you mean you couldn’t take the fact that he cheated on you?”
“Whatever,” Tanya said, looking away.
“So that wasn’t it?”
The woman winced, looking down. Then she met Kieran’s eyes again. “It was big, you know. Like...huge. He loved to brag about it.”
“I see,” Kieran said.
“No, no, you don’t,” Tanya said, and of course she was right.
And then Kieran suddenly knew. “He hurt you with it, didn’t he? With sex. Did he force you?”
Tanya looked startled. “Yeah, and I know it’s rape if a guy forces his wife. But...”
“But?”
“It wasn’t just that,” Tanya said, sounding as if she was barely breathing.
“What?”
“It was the things—the things he did with it.” Tanya was silent for a long moment, looking near tears. “The places...on me...he forced it. I couldn’t bear it anymore. I couldn’t take it. I couldn’t leave—no job and two kids. And I couldn’t—I couldn’t take the pain. I’m not stupid—I’m not well educated, but I’m not stupid. I know this makes it look like I am, but... I knew that I couldn’t do anything crazy, that they’d take me away and then my kids would be left with... But I wasn’t thinking when I did it. I just looked up after he made me bleed again, and he had a knife in the room to peel an apple he was eating in bed after and I...I just picked it up.” She fell silent again. “I never thought there would be so much blood. And he was screaming and screaming, and I...” She stopped speaking and lifted her shoulders, let them fall. “I called 911.” She shrugged again. “I hear they sewed it back on and that he’s going to live to brag another day. And I’ll go to jail for the rest of my life.”
Kieran hesitated. She wondered why she’d chosen this work. It was so hard to see the suffering in others.
“Tanya, what happened to you—what was happening—needs to be brought to the judge’s attention. My report is intended to help your lawyer. He or she will bring up the information about the way he was abusing you. I don’t mean to give you false hope, but—”
“Oh, my God, no!” Tanya said, her face turning scarlet.
“No—what?”
“People will know! They’ll know...what he did to me.”
Kieran was amazed that the prospect of others’ opinions could sway Tanya’s resolve to fight for herself.
“They should know,” Kieran said. “Why would you let this happen to someone else?”
Tanya was thoughtful. Tears sprang into her eyes. “My kids... Does that mean maybe I’d get my kids back?”
“I’m not a lawyer. But, as a therapist, I can assure you that telling the truth is what you need to do right now, and that if anything will help you, it’s the truth.”
As if taking Kieran completely at her word, Tanya launched into a flood of truths. By the end Kieran was surprised the woman hadn’t put the knife through her husband’s heart, though she didn’t say anything like that to Tanya. She assured her that she would write everything up and put it into the hands of her attorney.
For once, Kieran thought after Tanya had left in the company of her police escort, her mind wasn’t on her own situation. She typed away furiously, consulting her notes frequently and occasionally replaying part of the recorded session.
She had no idea how long she’d been working when she was startled to feel a presence behind her, though she’d never heard the door open.
She spun around and nearly gasped when she saw who it was.
Special agent Craig Frasier.
*
Moments after Craig arrived, Jake arrived at her door escorting Kevin and Julie.
“Looks like we were all of the same mind,” Kevin said, looking at Craig. “You here to help my sister escape unscathed, too?”